The two would go on to raise the full $200,000 and soon $1 million to continue the program, thanks in part to Harvard credentials, Brown says.

"[The Harvard name] did provide some level of legitimation for taking the risk the institutions were taking," he says. "Nothing ever felt easy, but looking back on it, we were 25- or 26- year-olds looking to raise $200,000 for a pilot."

Brown believes that what most attracted donors like Jackson was that, at the height of Eighties materialism, he and Khazei were Harvard alums who were putting their pedigree to work for an idealistic project.

Still, constantly being known as "those two guys from Harvard" has also been a challenge for the co-founders to surmount, Brown says.

"What the Harvard name can do is provide a bit of prejudice in one way or the other," he says. " 'They come from a privileged institution and a privileged background' is the assumption. You have to build a level of trust over time."

But if City Year's current status is any measure of the level of trust built in the past 11 years, Khazei, now in Bosnia, and Brown have been tremendously successful.

The organization recently expanded its program to the Seattle area, its 10th service site and boasts a laundry list of corporate and private sponsors-all started from the convergence of rooming forms on a Harvard dean's desk.

"I think City Year is this 18-year conversation that Alan and I have been having that started in Grays Hall," he says. "Harvard has just had a tremendous influence."